The DogChannel Newswire (1-11-11)

Painting of Queen Victoria’s Favorite Dog Up For Auction at BonhamsAn oil painting of Sharp, Queen Victoria’s favorite dog, will be featured in ”Dogs in Show & Field: The Fine Art Sale” on February 16, 2011 at Bonhams New York. The painting, by the Norfolk artist Charles Burton Barber, has attracted a pre-sale estimate of $4,000 to $6,000. Once in the personal collection of the Queen, the reverse of the picture bears the Windsor Castle inventory stamp and a further stamp denoting the Queen’s property, Bonhams reports.Read now >>

A Retirement Home for PetsFor 17 years, the Texas A&M University’s Stevenson Companion Animal Life-Care Center has been a cushy retirement home for pets whose owners have died or no longer are able to care for them. Home to 21 cats, 16 dogs and one llama, the center is poised for its second expansion in seven years. With construction set to begin in June, the addition will provide quarters for cockatoos, parrots and other large birds, and screened porches and added rooms for four-legged guests, MySanAntonio.com reports.Read now >>

Two-Hundred-Pound Dog Gets Hoisted Out of SinkholeA 200-pound Mastiff fell into a 25-foot-deep sinkhole in the backyard of a California home, prompting a rescue effort that used ropes and pulleys to hoist him out — dirty but uninjured. It took rescuers more than three hours to get the dog named Cedrick out of the hole, apparently the home’s old septic tank, which had been exposed by heavy rains, Kionrightnow.com reports.Read now >>

Washington D.C. Opens Fifth Dog ParkMost openings get a ribbon-cutting ceremony, but a leash-cutting ceremony on Saturday was much more appropriate. After all, it was for a dog park in Northwest where dogs will get to run and play without a leash. The Upshur Dog Park on Arkansas Avenue is the fifth dog park in the city, WTop.com reports.Read now >>